Despite the global economic slowdown, Indo-Swiss trade graph has been looking upwards. The two-way trade expanded from US$7.03 billion in 2005-06 to US$15.3 billion in 2009-10, that is, more than doubling in 5 years.
This was stated by Dr Linus von Castelmur, ambassador of Switzerland to India and Bhutan, at an interactive session fielded by the CII recently in Kolkata.
"Switzerland is taking an initiative to organise a CEOs conclave in September this year in Kolkata. This would indeed provide a strong, innovative platform to chalk out mutually beneficial trade strategies," he said.
"Swiss companies have been actively participating in providing modern technologies and high tech products to various industrial sectors in India for a long time. This is evident from the fact that now nearly 170 Swiss companies have their joint ventures or subsidiaries in India. Business collaboration between Swiss and Indian companies has been growing robustly for a long time.
Some of the main items of Indian exports to Switzerland are textiles and garments, organic chemicals, precious stones and jewellery, dyestuffs, machinery and parts and leather products. India's imports from the Swiss consist of machinery and equipment (electrical and mechanical), precision instruments, pharmaceutical products, dyes and chemicals, fertilizers, watches among other products," he added.
Dr Castelmur recalled that the emergence of friendship between India and Switzerland formally started with the Treaty of Friendship and Establishment of 1948 and was strengthened in various fields such as development, economy, and culture. The exchanges between the two countries have since increased manifold.
He ended by saying, "This is the opportune moment to capture the untapped opportunities lying ahead of the two countries
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